If they had hired Blackwater, the firm would have had a particularly appropriate sounding name for the job: guarding tar-stained beaches.

In their latest eyebrow-raising PR move, multinational oil giant BP has enlisted private security contractors to keep onlookers away from oil cleanup sites. While the firm they hired apparently isn't Blackwater (the private security firm Blackwater changed their name to Xe Services after a spate of killings in Baghdad, and has now put itself up for sale), they certainly seem to have 'black water' in their sights.

Webmaster's Commentary:

If BP has gone to these extraordinary lengths to keep people away from the cleanup sites, this catastrophe is far worse than either BP or the Federal government is willing to divulge.